Show 7 S 1 1 1 1 1 BV ROMMER 1 lim li I 1 im M 1 1 by servia sax rohmer T T CHAPTER CHAPTER V continued 6 cherp Is indeed a further journey which you must take little one h he said but surely you welcome elcome it or are you so happy in the house of As daml pasha that you regret to leave cairo I 1 have small loye for aswani she replied and less lesi for cairo we are going then to arabia there at least I 1 have my comforts my servants in the morning orange blossom he walked slowly towards her you have until the dawn of tomorrow in which to talk to me to bewitch me with your beauty and mike make me more completely your slave the woman smiled up at him as he bent over her you know that I 1 love you yu yuan an she whispered 1 I begin to believe so since 5 ou on have followed me around the world followed you were tree free to leave me at any time dimly the note of a gong sounded in some place below go now to your room said yu yuan an hee see this Is aswani who has arrived I 1 shall be detained perhaps for an hour in a small square room on the ground floor of the house furnished very simply as an office aswani pasha eat sat waiting to the gang assembled in the res caurant suleiman bey in paris he was v as known as the chief but here he was an egyptian gentleman of established position nevertheless he watched the door of the room with a certain ner ness not strictly in keeping with Ilo moslem fatalism yuan hee see stood framed in the open doorway looking at the egyptian his eyes nearly closed you are an hour late what is the explanation it Is simple was the reply the pilot made a forced landing but a good one we were ten miles from helloco Us LIS which I 1 think explains my delay it explains it the reedy voice con ceded I 1 accept this explanation I 1 would add that if such accidents occur to others of our company disaster lies iles before us like a gulf which no man can pass I 1 have no fears the egyptian as him here Is the roll I 1 can tell you where every man of the corn com pany Is at the present moment or should be some are out of reach I 1 admit but with the others we can get in touch if you ou desire it I 1 do not desire it you are res ble he ile raised a plump hand the pointed index finger curled I 1 do not wish to see your report tell me that there has been no hitch no hitch very good I 1 am perhaps foolish but in london everything went wrong since this Is our biggest venture I 1 thought that the auguries were enfa across the coarse but handsome tea fea tures of the egyptian a momentary cloud passed its passage instantly detected by those nearly closed eyes ot of yu an hee see you also have been disturbed the voice was very soft but inbred high no no excellency I 1 aswani forced a smile one of the men rather alarmed me on the night we met in paris it was the scotsman he ile must be watched I 1 no not gaelles Mac Ma lles elles I 1 distrust him only when he Is sober also I 1 have arranged to replace him if necessary but kid brown exchanged words with a stranger downstairs in the rant he went down with franz har tog our second engineer whom he had thrashed for a breach of orders and this stranger except for some russian idiots was the only person in the restaurant too late he reported the matter to me admitting that he may have been indiscreet there was a momentary silence then repeat to me said yu an hee see in the nan man a own words exactly what be he reported to you including his description of this stranger those hose despe desperately a ratel dra drab streets which lead from the docks at marseilles to trie tue more habitable quarters of the city were several inches deep in an un pleasant kind of light yellow mud the buildings were yellowish gray the sky was of this muddy complexion also simply too unbelievably pigsty eileen declared as the taxi floundered and humped thumped through the morass and I 1 in real sorry I 1 started that a rather mean of you elleen eileen eald said jack rattray the first officer smiling his slow smile don dont t you think so actor doctor lestler destler patted elleen s arm soothingly at least miss kearney Iv earney he said it makes males a small change we shall not be ashore again until we reach port said yes and what does it matter this mud and the gray sky ha Us presently we shall be convivial with a little cocktail ha and it makes males a small hange eileen turned to him and laughed the outstanding characteristic of the austrian doctor as she had discor ered during their short was his astonishing ty of soothing they presently reached a hotel turned into the little lounge on the right of the door and sat down at a table good lordi said eileen there s that glattly woman with the chief 1 near a pillar leaning very iery close to gether across a small table were the chief engineer of the wallaroo wa laroo and a b g dark v noman oman apparently half caste handsome in her way but of a gener bously curving blure not strictly fash conable good old corky said jack rattray hes iles afasa a fast worker hes iles well away with the lion tamer look chos who s here beret 1 lileen ex da cla med doctor and jack rattray stared across the lounge pop ular fellow tra traveler Neler air ir durlam was cribbing to then ha ila cr ed doctor bestler it Is our mr air durham lie ile Is leaving us yes esa ses les rattray confirmed I 1 should like to have a final word with him before igo I 1 go back to the sh p he never even said good by to me eileen complained but durham had joined them now doctor and mr air rattray he said I 1 hope you will take a stirrup cup presently miss kearney if your friends can spare you for a moment I 1 have a private message for you but I 1 shan shant t detain i you ou more tw ano minutes they left the house and walked up stairs to where upon a seat in an alcove outside tle tl e dining room a man was waiting A soft brown hat and a white raincoat lay beside him oh I 1 eileen gasped and clutched durham s arm her face grew sad sud denly pale then this pallor was swept by a swift color dawson haig stood up 1 I haven t frightened you eileen I 1 couldn t think of any other way a 0 when mr franz hartog came on board the wallaroo at marseilles to take possession of his cabin on D deck both berths in which had been reserved in london through a partly open door across the narrow alleyway dawson halg haig was watching he saw the tall blond german whom with bloody mouth he had seen coming down the stairs of the restaurant man beyl unseen dawson halg haig left his hiding place and went up to the captains captain s room captain peterson was seated at his desk which was littered with papers he was badly worried about this voyage the gold was a big re in the first place and now to his other troubles had been added this sudden appearance of an official from scotland yard I 1 was right captain said dawson halg haig its my danl man the captain smiled resignedly it its a a complete muddle to me inspector he confessed er Is it all about it if this fellow Is a criminal why don dont t you arrest him I 1 shall be glad to be rid of him thank you said halg haig it isn t so simple as that but heres here s the post alon roughly tou you have five gers on board the wallaroo whom I 1 suspect with good reason of being mem bers hers of a dangerous international gang rivel said the skipper un der tufted eyebrows have they all come aboard here no four joined you in london holy smoke I 1 what s afoot in specter it if I 1 knew that sir I 1 should know what I 1 in here to find out was halg haig s reply certain evidence came into our possession in london which seemed to point to the tact fact that members of a gang of dope dealers receivers of stolen property and other undesirable trades were sailing salting in your ship the exact number of the rooms occupied by them were discovered got those numbers I 1 am almost certain I 1 have my list however was made from in memory emory but in a certain paris cafe which we be bileve to be a meeting place of these people I 1 recently had a sight of a certain man today he has joined the wallaroo as a passenger his room booked in london Is one of those which I 1 have on the list I 1 I 1 think it its s sate safe to presume captain that the oth er four suspects should be watched I 1 entirely agree with you inspect tor the french authorities have just notified me halg haig went on that three other men all they could trace who were present at the restaurant I 1 have mentioned have all set out by different routes for the near east looks lile like a general assembly at some spot unknown n its my job to find that spot captain because if I 1 do find it I 1 ex peet to meet there the man who mur dered detective sergeant norwich in limehouse the night before the walla roo sailed As a result of this conversation a new passenger joined the ship only a few minutes before she left marseilles a certain mr smith who wore tinted spectacles he was allotted a seat at the doctors table next to the distin gashed Au scientist doctor oest ler ter on the following morning one of the chinese passengers mr len chow of new york went to the pursers office he ile had a serious complaint to lodge while he had been absent in the bath baz room some one rifled his cabin he rafter thought that his return had in the intruder as all sorts of papers were left strewn upon the floor Ind indie leiting ailing a hurried retreat cin can you give me a list of the miss arg articles asked mr air winter the purser mr len chow his spectacled face unemotional replied that none were MIR Zing then what s the row about the thief must be apprehended he has rifled my papers they are of great personal value but no value to anyone else no are any missing no there was silence for some moments III make inquiries mr len chow naturally said winter but as you say he has stolen nothing I 1 really dont don t know how we are going to iden tiby this person do you I 1 cannot say but I 1 must be protected from such visits see what can be done at about which time dawson halg haig with his cabin door locked was rapidly making pencil notes while his memory served him he had been un able to complete bis his investigation ow ing to the unexpected movements in the cabin which immediately faced that of mr len chow he much regretted the d border in which he had been compelled to leave the latter s apart ment it had been this or discovery however briefly he had learned that mr chow according to his passport was an american cit citizen izen and that he could have been in england only a week or possibly less at the time that the wallaroo sailed he found a receipted bill from the grand hotel birmingham it was sufficient to convince halg haig that mr chow had been engaged upon the frustrated dope smuggling enterprise had probably been responsible for or safe delivery in sydney to which port apparently ly he was booked A puzzling feature of his passport which spoke of extensive traveling mostly in the near ear east was a visa bearing yesterday yesterdays s date by the E egyptian gyp consul in marseilles which strong ly suggested that mr chow s plans had been changed and that he was going ashore at port said halg haig presently presented himself in the captain s cabin there he remained for a whole hour busily transcribing from the borrowed marconi books a number of incoming messages and out going messages received or dispatched by the suspected five while some of the messages seemed innocent enough others notably those sent by doctor bestler quite obviously were compiled in some sort of code halg haig went to his cabin and settled down before the little table to see what he could make out of this new material the halt half caste woman known as miss ednam and supposed to be a vaude vilie artist mr len chow and doc doe tor for bestler were the suspects whose names appeared in the marconi books studying a list of telegraphic ad dresses which the captain had bor rowed from the wireless room halg haig discovered that mr chows first two messages had addressed to ali ung causeway london excellent he murmured causeway london was the telegraphic address of jo lungs establishment in limehouse I 1 the messages themselves were sim pie enough they were these one arranged to transfer or signed chow lour friend Is on board signed chow clear enough halg haig mused he Is informing friend that he has arranged to cancel from port said to sydney and la Is leaving at the former he later sends the information that there Is a friend on board mean ing durham of course durham thought he was spotted he ile was quite right then in order of date was an in coming message which read arf ta aal meurice pans paris sixteen to eighteen signed pascal mr len chows chow s third message ad dressed to pascal hotel meurice paris parts read your friend leaving us at Mars marselles elpes signed chow at which moment came the sound of a loud rap on the cabin door dawson halg haig hastily adjusted his tinted glasses elleen eileen bearney kearney stood outside in a green jumper suit and beret her cheeks freshened and her eyes brightened by sea breezes she looked absurdly young and disturbingly beautiful you positively startled me elleen 1 he said for heavens heaven s sake cut in quickly did anybody see you not she said breathlessly but I 1 heard some one coming along the main alleyway and had to run I 1 she stepped inside and closed the door it s good to see you halg haig declared but according to our arrangements at marseilles im not supposed to know you yet I 1 happened this elleen eileen replied speaking very rapidly last night I 1 was awakened by some one banging at a near cabin door I 1 distinctly heard him say mar coni cont message that would be doctor bestler s cabin said halg haig he stooped over his notes scanning them rapidly until he came to the last of several messages received by doctor bestler that must have been about halt half past three this morning he suggested it was have you the message there dawson halg haig smiled arlly I 1 gainly have it here he replied shall I 1 read it to you yes please do then I 1 can tell you it if its it s the same halg haig stared at her in a certain be wilderment derment wll then this Is it he said bestler passenger wallaroo ibsh keeper searchlight near home stop know tell he looked up smiling does that convey anything to you elleen eileen not she confessed blankly watch ing him it asti isn t the same of course you can t possibly know what I 1 in talk ing about so I 1 must explain while I 1 was in the bath this morning that sud den squall of wind and rain came do you remember halg haig nodded I 1 had opened the porthole and fas bened the door back to freshen the air in my cabin and doctor bestler whose cabin adjoins mine must have done the same because when I 1 got back bak I 1 returned first a lot of papers which had been lying loose on my table had been blown right out into the main alleyway FOR NEW READERS THE STORY FROM THE OPENING CHAPTER matt kearney young american living in london says good by to his sister elleen eileen on board the wallaroo bound for colombo the wallaroo Is conveying 12 in gold to australia kearney meets inspector dawson halg haig of 0 scot land yard very much in love with elleen eileen halg haig Is convinced opium Is concealed in jo lung 9 warehouse called to other duty he delegates kearney with detective norwich to visit the place and find out what he can while in the warehouse kearney picks up a notebook yuan yu an hee see whom halg haig has long been seeking as the leader of a band of interns dional thieves Is at jo lung s discovering the loss ot of his notebook he sends two of his followers after norwich and kearney one of whom he realizes must have picked it up soon after leaving kearney norwich Is murdered halg haig Is puzzled over cryptic notes in the book referring to stops to be made by the wallaroo while he Is poring over them a weird creature enters seizes the book and escapes matt matte s story of hearing |